Then there is her wobbly walk -- the product of having hobbled around Oakland for weeks on just three legs.
When rescuers corralled the starving stray cat two months ago, they found a quarter-inch metal chain tied around her neck and looped tightly around her front right leg like a sling -- forcing the limb to hang in the air. It's not completely clear if Ruby was the victim of abuse or just bad luck.
Ruby's predicament lasted at least three weeks, one of her veterinarians estimated, noting that the chain had cut nearly all the way to her leg bone and that her skin had grown back on top of the chain.
Making matters worse, Ruby, who's about 1 year old, also had a broken pelvis and a damaged kidney that had to be removed.
"The cat was in excruciating pain," said Dr. Rebecca Arntz, a veterinarian at VCA Bay Area Animal Hospital in Oakland where rescuers raced Ruby after trapping her. "We were worried because she wouldn't let us get close to touching her."
Letting strangers get too close was how Ruby ended up in such bad shape, said Ellen Lynch, a member of the group, Fix our Ferals, who helped trap her.
Lynch said that a couple who feeds a local homeless cat colony near Fruitvale Avenue and Interstate 580, told her that some neighborhood kids had wrapped the chain around Ruby's neck and leg.
However, the couple declined to talk for this story. And, Arntz said it's possible that Ruby accidentally looped the chain around her leg as she struggled to get it off her neck.
No matter how the chain ended up around Ruby's leg, it apparently stayed there for an agonizingly long time. According to Lynch, the couple told her that they had not seen Ruby in quite awhile and were surprised when she reappeared near their home in October still hobbling on three paws, crying out for food. After getting a call from the couple, Lynch said she brought them a trap and then drove Ruby to the veterinary hospital the next morning.
"That poor cat has been through a lot," Lynch said. "I've seen a lot of abused dogs and a lot of abused cats. And this is one of the worst."
Arntz said it's not as rare as one might expect for a tightly wrapped chain to eat into a cat's neck or limb over time. "Cats are just marvelous healers," she said. "They will heal over anything. It just so happened that the skin healed on top of the chain."
Ruby has been recuperating at the friendly confines of Peggy Harding's Oakland home where she has gained several pounds and is finally ready to be adopted.
"She hid in the corner for two days, hissing at me, crying," said Harding, a retired teacher and member of Island Cat Resources and Adoption. "Then she started warming up, and she's just been so sweet."
Ruby's biggest challenge has been relearning to walk.
The muscles in her front right leg had contracted so much from being held in place by the chain that she needed physical therapy to stretch out her shoulder so that she could get around on all four paws again.
"She was falling over," Harding said. "She didn't remember how to walk on three legs and have the fourth leg free."
Ruby will likely always move with a distinctive wobble, but that is partly due to the pelvis injury, Harding said.
Ruby will need a calm home with companions willing to pay for yearly urinalyses to check on her remaining kidney. It might be a tough sell, but Ruby has a face that is hard to resist. And, Harding said, "She is just a super sweet cat."
Island Cat Resources and Adoption, which neuters feral cats and finds homes for adoptable cats in Alameda and Oakland, has paid more than $2,000 for Ruby's surgeries. The volunteer organization is accepting donations to help cover Ruby's medical costs. To donate or learn more about the group, visit www.icraeastbay.org. And to see more of Ruby, visit the group's Facebook page at www.facebook/icraeastbay.
(San Jose Mercury News - Dec 31, 2014)
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